Banking Emerges from the Worldwide Financial Crisis , In 2009 events and conditions in the global banking and financial systems were a direct response to the credit crunch that followed the September 2008 bankruptcy of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers. At the start of the year, the world economy faced the worst recession in modern history, with an increasing number of bankruptcies and rising unemployment. Firms and individuals were having difficulty in accessing operating funds and loans, and there was a dramatic slowdown in global production and trade.

In September 2009 the IMF estimated worldwide toxic debt, or subprime assets, at $3.4 trillion, down from its April estimate of $4 trillion. Many banks were close to collapse and were rescued by their respective governments. In the U.S., where 99 banks had been closed down by the end of October, the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) fund was used to extend loans to many banks, and toward the end of the year, TARP was expected to divert funds to small community banks to help companies with assets of less than $1 billion. In Ireland the Anglo Irish Bank—Ireland’s third largest bank and Europe’s most successful during the housing-price “bubble” years—was nationalized in January. In the U.K., Lloyds Banking Group and the Royal Bank of Scotland were partly and almost completely nationalized, respectively. In continental Europe casualties included the Dutch banking group ING, Fortis in Belgium, and the Hypo Bank in Germany. In Eastern Europe more than $1.7 trillion had been borrowed, and many banks were in trouble; in 2009 some $400 billion had to be renewed or repaid, mainly to Western banks that were unable to roll over the debt.

Throughout 2008 central banks around the world had cut interest rates to increase liquidity. Some, led by the U.K. and the U.S. early in 2009, adopted quantitative easing, buying British gilt-edged securities (gilts) and U.S. Treasury bills, respectively, in order to increase lending. Most of the leading industrialized countries adopted such nonconventional measures, with the reluctant European Central Bank following suit in May, at the same time cutting interest rates to a record-low 1%.

The problems facing the banks were reflected in their profits, as reported in the July 2009 issue of The Banker magazine in its “Top 1000 World Banks 2009.” Total profits for the 1,000 banks on the list fell by 85%, from $780 billion in the 2008 list to $115 billion, with the return on capital declining from 20% to less than 2.7%. For the first time in 39 years, the 25 leading banks, which accounted for nearly 40% of bank capital and 45% of total assets, suffered losses, and the top 5 alone lost a combined $95.8 billion. There were, however, wide regional and country differences. Western banks endured hefty losses, led by the U.S. with $91 billion, although three American banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup—raised enough funds to head The Banker’s list based on Tier 1 capital. The 27-member European Union (designated as the EU27) sustained a total loss of $16.1 billion, while the U.K.’s banks lost $51.2 billion. By contrast, Chinese banks, three of which led the “Top 1000” in overall market capitalization, earned pretax profits of $84.5 billion, followed by Japan ($16.5 billion) and Brazil ($11.7 billion). The bank rankings reflected the growing global importance of Asia (excluding Japan), with the number of Asian banks on the list increasing to 193 from 174 two years earlier, compared with decreases in the U.S. to 159 (from 185) and the EU27 to 258 (from 279).

Bank profits after the first quarter were much better than expected, and 10 American banks in June repaid $68 billion to the TARP fund, which freed them from adhering to the constraints on salaries and other income that had been introduced by the U.S. Congress. There was growing concern and public anger, however, that the deeply embedded bonus culture persisted, especially in the U.S. and the U.K., where late in the year bank employees—especially those in upper management—were poised to receive huge bonuses. This was in spite of the fact that the $9 trillion cost of the bank rescues had fallen on the taxpayers. A tacit agreement was reached in September at the Group of 20 (G-20) economic summit in Pittsburgh, where the G-20 representatives pledged that such bonuses should be linked to long-term performance and tapped the Financial Stability Board “to coordinate and monitor progress in strengthening financial regulation.”

Meanwhile, central banks and regulatory bodies were formulating measures to prevent another banking crisis. Capitalization requirements were increased, and there was to be greater transparency. In October the U.S. Treasury announced a draft bill that would enable a financial institution to be ordered by the Federal Reserve to sell a risky part of the business or have it seized. In Europe the EU was imposing penalties on all European banks that had been bailed out in the financial crisis, and even more stringent measures were likely. There was ongoing debate on the wisdom and feasibility of dividing banks into a two-tier system of commercial and investment banks in an effort to ensure that the more risky investment bank activities, such as hedge funds and derivatives, never again had so serious an impact on the retail banking sector.